Nigel Owens: The Final Whistle: The long-awaited sequel to his bestselling autobiography!

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That moment made sure he "refereed every game afterwards as if it was a World Cup final," whatever the level. He becomes a farmer, looking after a pedigree herd of Herefords near the home he shares in Pontyberem with his partner Barrie.

Aggiungi tutti gli audiolibri e podcast che vuoi ascoltare alla tua libreria e ascoltali sia tramite app gratuita o utilizzando il Cloud Player direttamente dal sito Audible. It's rare for a referee in any sport to be popular, yet Nigel Owens has always courted strong affection throughout the world - loved by players, coaches, officials, TV commentators and even fans. Nigel Owens is a one-off, a top flight rugby referee who became the best in the world and remains one of the game’s most popular ambassadors. This person from a council estate in the west Wales village of Mynyddcerrig had just had these conversations with the Queen and the Duke.Indeed, there is a chapter in the autobiography devoted to each of Owens' famous sayings, there are so many of them, but he was utterly shocked they went viral. A fascinating read detailing Nigel's early life, his progression through the refereeing ranks, a reminder of his struggles with accepting being gay and and the high esteem he is clearly held in throughout the game. He also details in the book a lovely letter of apology and support he received from then RFU chairman Bill Beaumont, the former Lions captain, "telling me he was horrified by what had happened and stressing I was always welcome at Twickenham. Not that I’m anything special today, let me stress, but clearly my rise in rugby refereeing has happened since then and I’m grateful for the opportunity to share the story of what's happened," says Owens. It ended up with me genuinely asking, 'Do people really find these things that funny, because I certainly don't?

But while Owens is candid about events that happened, for the most part this is a hugely positive book which he feels will make the reader smile - 'even bring an occasional tear to the eye', he says. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products.Paul Abbandonato, who has collaborated with Nigel Owens on this autobiography, is a multi-award-winning journalist who has been Head of Sport for Wales Online and the mainstream Welsh newspapers for several years. Towards the end of the second half one of the players asked him if he could tell him when there were five minutes remaining and indeed repeated the request a little while later. It’s a rare thing to to able to be able to assert authority with a smile, and of course his humour, both on and off the pitch has become a hallmark of his refereeing style and of the man himself. Talk to somebody about the issues, don't make the mistake I did by trying to hide away and deal with it in silence.

Perhaps the best place to start with Nigel is with his first book Hanner Amser/Half Time, where he initially spoke about those dark times. I own but haven't yet read his previous memoir, Hanner Amser, I chose to get the original Welsh edition and I have too many books ahead of it on my list right now. But it is Owens' back story, an attempt to commit suicide in his mid-twenties and then having the courage to come out as gay in the macho world of rugby, which helps make him such a high-profile figure. As someone who enjoys rugby I was interested in this book and Nigels career as an international professional rugby referee. I'm truly humbled by the staunch backing, messages of goodwill, warmth and affection people have shown me.A real character, some of his famous put-downs whilst lecturing players, such as ‘This is Not Soccer’, have become huge social media hits.

The story of the second half of Nigel's career as one of the most famous referees in World Rugby, and one of only two Welsh refs ever to officiate at a Rugby World Cup Final. Not apparently written with the expectation of a wide audience, enjoyable but could have used another draft | I enjoyed this to the four star level, but I have to be honest that the writing quality is two stars, so an easy balance at three overall. I'm just happy, however, if my own story helps others out there who might find things difficult from time to time. The book is very repetitive, doesn't follow a clear timeline, instead jumping ahead a couple years before going back to reference some skipped event, and is definitely written for people who already know the basic story of most of the events. There were periods when he took took many steroids or found comfort in eating too much and other passages in his life when bulimia affected him badly.

There are plenty of great little stories peppered throughout this book, from dropping his steak in front of the Queen to the rituals he follows when preparing for big games, such as donning Superman boxer shorts to listening to inspiring playlists including the stirring hymn ‘How Great Thou Art. After a run of decisions against the police they left the pitch in a huff and had to be talked into finishing the game by being threatened with eviction from the league. I think some of the continuous emphasis that none of the viral moments were said with that as the goal could have been edited out. This wasn’t the first time the police had been involved in a game officiated by Owens, although the other occasion was far from funny.